Alfre Woodard joins the cast of Marvel’s ‘Luke Cage’

Alfre Woodard is finalizing a deal to play a major role on Marvel’s upcoming Netflix series Luke Cage.

Woodard’s character is described as a powerful local politician named Minetta. But in typical Marvel fashion, what we see may not be exactly what we get — Minetta is rumored to be the alias of Black Mariah, a drug-dealing comic book villain who acts as a nemesis for Luke Cage.

Woodard has a rich background of television and film credits, and would certainly be a casting coup for Luke Cage. She has won four Emmy Awards, and received an Oscar nomination for her role in the 1983 film Cross Creek. She also appeared in 12 Years a Slave, and has had recent television roles on The Last Ship and State of Affairs.

Luke Cage, will star Mike Colter as the title character, a falsely accused convict who uses his accidentally-acquired superhuman strength to break out of prison. Colter will make his first appearance as the character in the Netflix series Jessica Jones, which stars Krysten Ritter and will hit the streaming service later this year.

Colter’s series, helmed by showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker, will be the third of Marvel’s collaborations with Netflix. The streaming service recently announced its confidence in the joint venture, which debuted to great acclaim with Daredevil earlier this year. The fourth series will focus on Iron Fist (alias Danny Rand,) a superhero influenced by Asian mythology; incidentally, Black Mariah is also a nemesis for the chi-powered hero.